Drilling down to a regional level, home-shortage hot spots begin to appear. Greater Geneva (0.6%) and Lausanne (0.7%) have the lowest vacancy rates, followed by greater Basel (1.0%), Zurich (1.0%) and Bern (1.2%).

Drilling down further to the 392 municipalities with populations over 5,000, reveals even greater differences.

Three towns (Horw, Hünenberg, Bourg-en-Lavaux) have no vacant properties, 37 places have rates less than 0.5% and 138 places have vacancy rates less than 1%.

Municipal-level figures reveal how much tighter the property market is within official city limits in Switzerland’s main centres. Vacancy rates in the municipalities of Zurich (0.2%), Basel (0.7%) and Bern (0.4%) are far lower their greater-city rates – the rates for Lausanne (0.7%) and Geneva (0.6%) are the same.

Moving out of main centres doesn’t always improve the odds of finding a place to live. Some communes near large cities can be worse. For example, Crissier (0.1%) Ecublen (0.2%) and Prilly (0.2%), all close to the municipality of Lausanne, have far lower vacancy rates than the municipality itself (0.7%).

The 10 municipalities with populations over 5,000 with the lowest vacancy rates are:

Of the roughly 42,000 homes across these ten communes, 3,098 (7.3%), or 1 in 14, were vacant on 1 June 2018.

The Federal Statistical Office provides a map showing vacancy rates by municipality, including those with populations below 5,000.

So, if you want to live in the towns of Vétroz (10.3%), Moutier (9.8%) or Zuchwil (8.4%), you could find yourself spoilt for choice. However, if you have your heart set on living in Horw, Hünenberg or Bourg-en-Lavaux, where there are no vacant homes, you might be waiting a long time.